Independent · non-commercial · publishes on a quarterly cycle|Current cycle 2026 Q3
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Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Defined term · Evidence assessment

Indirect comparison

An estimate of the difference between two interventions that have not been compared directly, derived through their comparisons with a common comparator. Weaker than a direct comparison and dependent…

Document identifier
CEI-GT-024
Series
Defined term
Version
1.0
Published
30 Jul 2026
Last reviewed
30 Jul 2026
Certainty
Not rated

§1Indirect comparison

§1.2Category

Evidence assessment — Terms describing how the Institute judges and reports the strength of evidence.

§1.3Related terms

  • Transitivity — The assumption, required for indirect comparison, that participants in the contributing trials could in principle have been randomised to any of the compared…
  • Network meta-analysis — A synthesis combining direct and indirect comparisons across a connected set of interventions. The Institute publishes network estimates with its transitivity assessment…
Compound Evidence Institute · CEI-GT-024 · https://compoundevidence.com/glossary/indirect-comparison/ · retrieved 30 July 2026
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